Saved
by Lena7142
Summary: Billy got into trouble. And his team would always run to save him...


**Title:** Saved

**Author:** Lena7142

**Characters:** Billy, Rick, Team

**Genre:** H/C, whump

**A/N:** Written for, and beta'd by Faye Dartmouth

**Summary:** Billy got into trouble. And his team would always run to save him...

* * *

-o-

Billy screamed.

His entire body lurched forward, arching and twisting as the cable touched the exposed skin of his back yet again. The anguish of the sudden voltage combined the stunning force of being kicked by a horse with the fiery burn of being stung by a wasp, the current singing through his nerves.

Then the cable was removed and he sagged, breathing heavily. He twitched a few times, his left hand trembling uncontrollably in the rope bindings that he hung from.

"Tell us where the diamonds are," Arjani hissed.

"Have you tried looking between the couch cushions?" Billy slurred, his tongue feeling cottony in his mouth. His teeth still felt like they were buzzing in his jaw. "Amazing what you can lose in between couch cushions-"

He was cut off as the cable jammed into him once more, prompting every muscle in his body to contract and clench. White lightning raced up his spine and exploded behind his eyes.

Pain.

He couldn't escape it. Couldn't block it out. It coursed through every nerve and every fiber, impossible to isolate, impossible to resist...

Then once more, the cable left his skin, leaving him panting heavily, his heart fluttering arrythmically in his throat.

He tried to dredge up enough saliva to speak, licking his lips. "You might also... try retracing... your steps. I do that whenever I've misplaced something, personally. You wouldn't... believe where I've accidentally left things..." His mouth ran on autopilot, as it was wont to do, while his brain tried to remember what neurons were supposed to fire where. Casey and Michael and Rick would be here soon. They'd have noticed when he ditched the earwig. It was just a matter of time.

Time, part of him feared as he saw one of Arjani's thugs crank up the voltage on the battery, he might run out of soon. He swallowed hard, shivering.

"I will give you one more chance," Arjani growled as his henchman brushed two cable ends together with a shower of glittering sparks. "Tell me where the diamonds are."

Billy lifted his head, despite the deep ache in his muscles, and grinned his most winning grin. "Sod off."

Then there was only pain, white hot and searing, burning him from the inside out until all that remained was darkness.

-o-

Rick ran.

He sprinted as fast as his legs would move him, pushing through the burn in his muscles and lungs. He hadn't been much of an athlete in school, usually having his nose too deep in a book, but he could haul ass when it counted.

And right now, it counted. Billy's earwig had gone dead and the bug they'd planted in Arjani's warehouse had similarly lost its feed. When the two guards posted on the roof disappeared, Rick's stomach had sunk. Casey had cursed and Michael had gone pale. They'd all known.

Billy was in trouble.

So now they ran, weapons out as they approached the doors, wasting no time is disarming and dispatching the men guarding the door. They used no restraint; there was no time for playing nice.

There might not be any time left at all, Rick thought as a protracted scream echoed down the hall, making his blood run cold.

Two more guards, and few wrong turns, and then... fighting. Arjani and his goons pulled guns, but the warlord didn't so much as raise his weapon's barrel before Casey crushed his windpipe in a single blow. Rick was breathless and lightheaded, but hours of training kicked in and a second later the nearest guard was on the floor, motionless. A gunshot barked out through the room and Rick whirled to see Michael's opponent drop to the ground.

And then, it was over. The entire fight had taken less than ten seconds.

But looking at Billy, hanging listlessly from his wrists in the middle of the room, stripped to the waist with angry red burns covering his arms and torso, Rick felt his heart sink with the knowledge that it had still been too long.

-o-

Billy floated.

He was somewhere in the darkness, suspended. The pain was now a dull ache, hazy and pervasive, increasing and retreating in turns, like waves on a beach... flowing and ebbing...

There was noise, but it seemed to come from so far away. He knew he should probably care, but there was so little left. His heart stuttered in his chest, stalling like a car with a broken transmission. He tried to breathe, but it made no difference. A quiet roaring in the back of his brain drowned out the sound of shots, the sound of his name being called. It overtook him, dragging him under, and then Billy wasn't floating anymore.

He was sinking.

And then... nothing.

-o-

Rick inhaled.

"Billy?" he said, stepping forward. "Billy!"

Michael leaned down and switched off the humming battery, and Rick tried not to let his gaze fall on the ends of the attached cables.

"Billy? Come on, wake up, buddy, the cavalry's here," he said, fumbling with the knots that held Billy up, catching him as he slipped limply free from the loosened ropes.

Billy's dead weight proved more than Rick anticipated and he staggered, Casey rushing in to help him lower Billy gently to the ground. "Come on Billy, time to go," Rick repeated, his voice hitching up a few notes.

But Billy didn't wake up.

Casey clenched his jaw, swallowing. Rick watched as the other operative pressed his fingers to Billy's throat. But that was ridiculous. Because they'd run all the way here, and they'd fought the bad guys, and they'd saved Billy.

They'd _saved _him.

But when Casey looked up, white as a sheet, the words he said made no sense:

"There's no pulse."

-o-

Rick balked.

"No. Check again," he insisted, his own fingers ghosting over Billy's pulse point.

"Current must've fibrillated him," Michael said, rushing over and dropping to his knees.

Rick searched frantically for a rhythm. They'd saved him. This wasn't happening...

But then Casey was tilting Billy's head back, pinching his nose closed and administering a rescue breath as Michael got into position, bracing his elbows and pressing down on Billy's chest to begin CPR.

CPR. Because Billy didn't have a pulse. Because they got here too late and Billy wasn't breathing, didn't have a heartbeat...

Billy was dead.

Rick rocked back on his heels, staring, stunned. Billy had been tortured to death while the rest of them were too slow, the electricity from the cables stopping his heart. They were too late.

Unless...

Rick moved over to the battery, picking up the two cables. He switched the current back on, flinching as the cables hummed to life.

"Martinez, what the hell are you doing?" Casey hissed, pulling away from the breath he'd been administering.

"There's no AED in here," Rick explained numbly. "But we still have a current."

"Dammit, Martinez, that thing is what _stopped _his heart!" the older agent snapped, but Michael held up a hand in protest, briefly pausing his compressions.

"It's not like it's going to make it any worse then," he interrupted, looking at Rick meaningfully, almost pleadingly. "Rick?"

Rick swallowed a painful lump in his throat. Billy was dead and this was crazy but if there was even a chance it could work...

"Step back."

Michael and Casey moved away and Rick knelt closer, holding the cables over Billy's chest with trembling hands. "Clear."

Billy jolted, back arching and body tensing as the shock ran through him. Then Rick pulled the cables back and Michael pressed his fingers to Billy's throat.

"No rhythm."

Casey cursed and Rick felt his throat tighten. "Clear," he repeated, then touched the cables again.

Billy's body convulsed again, and Rick wondered in horror if this was how he'd looked while Arjani had tortured him for the location of imaginary diamonds; wondered how long he'd screamed for as the current surged through him, killing him...

He pulled the cables away and blinked back tears. "I'm sorry," he whispered, lifting his hands to his face. "God, I'm so sorry..."

"Rick..."

He felt himself trembling. It hadn't worked. They'd failed. He'd failed–

"Rick, I think I've got a pulse."

He lifted his head, dropping his hands and staring at Michael, who was every bit as wide-eyed.

Then, Billy inhaled raggedly.

-o-

Billy chuckled.

"So, you brought me back to life with the very instrument of my torture and murder?" he asked.

Rick nodded, though he couldn't quite see the humor in the irony. Billy was sitting in a hotel bed, propped up on pillows and looking not much worse for wear after his brush with death, though fresh white gauze covered some of the nastier surface burns on his chest and back.

Their brush with Interpol earlier in the mission had removed the hospital as an option, but a seedy motel and a discreet on-call doctor had allowed them to hide and treat Billy until they were sure he wasn't going to drop dead again. Of course, there would have to be tests when they got back home - EKGs and other scans Rick didn't know anything about that would confirm whether or not Billy had sustained permanent heart damage - but for the time being, the Scot seemed okay.

Rick, on the other hand, found that twenty-four hours later, his hands were still shaking.

"You alright, lad?" Billy asked, leaning forward with a wince. "You look a mite pale."

"I'm not the one who _died_," Rick pointed out, evasively.

"Nice deflection," Billy remarked. "But you're talking to the master deflector, mate."

Rick's shoulders sagged. "I thought..." he licked his lips nervously. "I thought it was too late."

Billy smiled sympathetically. "Aye. And you also thought to rig up a makeshift defibrillator and save my life. Which is good bloody thinking, if I do say so myself. Quick, clever, resourceful, and most importantly for me, effective."

Rick blushed a bit, looking down. "I just never want to cut it that close again."

"Me neither," Billy agreed. "I'm sure it's scant comfort, but I'll offer you my assurances that I'll do my level best from here on out not to do any dying."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I guess I'll take what I can get," Rick finally answered with a sigh.

Billy grinned. "That's the spirit!"

"Get yourself killed again, though-"

"- Ah, who're you kidding, lad? You'll be there to save me all over again!"

And he was right. Because Billy got in trouble. It was what Billy did.

And his team would run and fight and save him.

Every time.


End file.
